Weaving new ties in Buona Vista

International engineering consultancy Web Structures has been appointed to work on a new £150m state-of-the-art broadcasting campus in Singapore for media giant MediaCorp. The 800,000 sq ft campus, including a purpose-built, 12-storey headquarters building, will play a central role in the Mediapolis media hub in Buona Vista. MediaCorp is Singapore’s leading media company. Maki Associates of Tokyo are lead architects on the project in association with DP Architects from Singapore. Engineering will be undertaken by Web Structures.

Mediacorp’s Mediapolis development includes two large studios, post-production facilities, news-gathering and broadcasting facilities, a 1,600-seat theatre and office space designed to provide maximum interaction between staff and encourage creativity. The ‘fenceless campus’ will be open to the public and visitors will be able see a drama or news broadcast and visit cafes, restaurants and gift shops. The new centre is scheduled to open in August, 2015.

Dr Hossein Rezai, Web Structures Group Director, said: “We are involved in detailed design work, meeting the challenges of creating buildings designed to be the best possible for broadcasting. The Mediapolis project is one of several film and broadcast projects we are working on, which all come with their own engineering challenges. Structurally the architect has set us the challenge of supporting one end of the four level office components on a single structural core, leading to cantilevers on three sides of over 20m in three directions. Due to the demanding architectural intent and resulting structural design, creative use of materials is essential to minimise the environmental impact of the building’s structural frame.”

Web Structures will also use its experience to reduce the carbon footprint of the new broadcasting centre. Dr Rezai added: “The embodied carbon emissions associated with the structure will be kept to minimum by using high quantities of recycled cement and aggregates as well as innovative void-forming techniques, which help to speed up construction as well as reducing the materials required.”